Hi! I just bought Veganomicon, and I was so excited to get started with my first dish: the Seitanic White and Red Bean Jambalaya. I used white long grain rice like the recipe said, but after cooking it 35 minutes at 375 degrees, stirring it and leaving it covered to cool down, I noticed the rice was still hard.

I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong. I don't have a Dutch Oven, so I separated the jambalaya into two casserole dishes - one with a lid and the other I covered with aluminum foil as tightly as I could.

However, I also made a mistake in the order of preparation. After initially sauteeing the pieces of seitan, instead of removing it from the pot I kept it there when I sauteed all the rest of the veggies (onions, peppers, garlic, celerry). I also neglected to stir the rice with the mixture and the 3 tablespoons of tomato paste for up to 4 minutes, doing it for about a minute instead. Then I added the 28 oz of diced tomatoes, the spices, and after simmering again I added the 4 cups of vegetable broth.

Do you think either of these things could have contributed to my hard rice?

I ended up cooking it for another 35-40 minutes longer, and while the rice cooked, the jambalaya itself took on a harder rice-like consistency, instead of a stewy consistency.

Your rice could be old. That happens to me sometimes. Or if you were cooking too hot, your water may have evaporated instead of soaking into the rice. Sometimes I have to add extra water to stuff like that.

I use brown rice when I make that recipe and I usually precook the rice on its own for about twenty minutes before I mix everything together, and then it can still take up to an hour. I know this wasn't a super helpful comment, just wanted you to know that you're not alone and rice can be finicky. But this is one of my absolute favorite recipes so it's totally worth a bit of fuss. : )